


Shattered Justice

by Bookninja2021



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Absent Parents, Abusive Parents, Child Death, F/F, F/M, Multi, Persona 4 Spoilers, Sad with a Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:42:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28588989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookninja2021/pseuds/Bookninja2021
Summary: Nanako is dead. Nanako is dead at the unwitting hand of Taro Namatame. Yu is not remotely pleased.How will the Investigation Team deal with Nanako's killer, and how will her family move on?
Relationships: Amagi Yukiko/Satonaka Chie, Dojima Nanako & Dojima Ryotaro, Dojima Nanako & Narukami Yu, Dojima Ryotaro & Narukami Yu, Kujikawa Rise/Narukami Yu
Kudos: 8





	Shattered Justice

Yu Narukami was absolutely beside himself with fury. The simple thought of seeing the disgusting face of Taro Namatame once again, the man who had sentenced Nanako to die, made him want to unsheathe the sword he carried on his hip and run the filthy criminal through with it. And not only her, but Mayumi Yamano as well. Saki Konishi. In addition, he was responsible for kidnapping the majority of the Investigation Team. He had little idea how the hospital staff had allowed him to carry a weapon inside the hospital, but he appreciated it nonetheless. 

And now, because of him, Nanako was… he was the only person who knew. Ryotaro Dojima, the girl’s father, and the other members of the Investigation Team did not yet know. He had to pay a visit first to the hospital room of Namatame. Its location was confidential information, for obvious reasons, but one slip-up from Adachi and some… enhanced interrogation on the part of Kanji, and the Investigation Team was able to obtain his location quickly enough. 

The rest of the team was already inside the room, as Yu had told them to go on ahead. Their anger was subdued to this point, but Yu was sure that would change once he revealed the news. 

Yu rammed the doors, mercifully unlocked, with his shoulder, and walked in on six other members of the team, excluding Teddie for some odd reason, forming a semicircle around the culprit, who was kneeling, begging for his life. A truly pathetic display. Tears streamed down his face and hospital gown, his knees were scuffed from the hard wood floor, and a thin line of blood trailed from his forehead, making a line across his face. And this might not be all the blood he loses this night, Yu thought. 

Naoto, of course, was the most active interrogator, asking thorough questions in a calm, steady voice, while Yosuke and Kanji stood behind her, chiming in on occasion, the small detective the only thing stopping them from exacting revenge. Good. That is my job. Meanwhile, Yukiko and Chie sat together on the hospital bed beside Namatame’s, which was now empty. The black-haired classmate was curled up against her friend, head resting on her lap, who slowly stroked her head, running her fingers through her hair. 

Rise was the only investigator who was doing nothing but standing and listening to the others speak. None of the others had noticed the loud sound from behind them yet. Her eyes lit up when she saw Yu throw his way into the room, only for her expression to darken when she saw his expression. Eventually, she started to make her way towards him, but she had started too late, for then Yu decided to make his presence known. 

Yu announced in a deep tone, unsheathing his sword, “Taro Namatame. It does bring me some satisfaction to finally be able to face you in our world, where I can deal out punishment fairly. You are being held to account for the murders of Mayumi Yamano, Saki Konishi, and Nanako Dojima. What have you to say for yourself?” He leveraged his blade at Namatame’s throat, the dirty bastard. Oh, how much he would love to end this impromptu trial prematurely. A hanging judge, if you would. 

Yu could tell that the mood in the room plummeted from cautiously hopeful to one of despair, sadness, and fury in seconds. 

The monster blubbered out, “No… please… please, you misunderstand! I was not responsible for those two! That was someone-“ He was then cut off when Yu lashed a hand out and grabbed him by the shirt, pinning him up against the television behind him and putting the tip of his sword against his neck. He pressed just a little, just enough to draw blood. 

Pure righteous anger burned away all of Yu’s other senses at that moment. He could scarcely hear the tears of Yukiko or the frenzied yelling of Kanji. He was focused on one thing: justice. Justice! Justice for the one who killed Nanako! 

Rise dashed up to Yu and pulled him away from the man he was threatening, causing the killer to slump to the floor in total defeat. Yu’s eyes focused away from her, entirely centred on Namatame, but he made no move to resist her calming hand on his chest. She pleaded, “Please, Yu, don’t kill him. Killing him won’t bring Nanako-chan back; it’s just a waste of a life.” 

Yu still remained wordless; Rise brought her mouth to his, presumably in an effort to jar him back to “the real world.” Her real world, that was. He hesitantly wrapped an arm around her back and returned the kiss, lowering his sword and allowing the talk of others to fill his mind and ears. 

When Yu and Rise broke away from each other, Naoto was significantly less successful in holding back the boys, who closed in on Namatame, ready to finish what Yu was about to start. The stern detective shouted above the noise, “Hold, Kanji! Yosuke!” quieting everyone in the room. “I am certainly not opposed to killing him, but you should wait until he has given us all the information he needs; perhaps then he stands a chance of being convicted, with a confession to his deeds and means.” 

This was enough to make Yosuke and Kanji back away for the moment, no further injuries displacing the body of Taro Namatame. Chie stood up and walked over to the rest of the Team, leaving Yukiko on the bed. Her eyes were damp with tears, but Yu could sense that her resolve was fiery. 

“Rise’s right, guys. Killing him won’t change anything. Plus, whoever does it is going to be convicted of murder. Sentenced to life in prison. This fucker isn’t worth that!” 

Yosuke bit back, “Then what consequences is he going to face?! There’s already pretty much no way he’ll be convicted, what with the TV world and everything, so he can go around killing more people! Sometimes, you have to make sacrifices for the greater good!” 

“There’s no guarantee he’ll kill again! What he was talking about earlier makes it seem like he isn’t!” 

“Oh yeah, trust this guy. For all we know, he’s lying out his ass to try and get us to let him go!”

Kanji, the only person besides Yukiko who hadn’t contributed so far, chimed in, “Trust me, I really wanna kill this asshole, but Chie’s got a good point. I don’t want murder charges. And if he dies, it’s gonna be pretty fucking obvious who did it, don’t you think?” He balled up his fist and sunk it deep in Namatame’s stomach. “That’s for Nanako-chan, you piece of shit.” 

“No, please, please! I keep telling you, she wasn’t meant to die! I was trying to…” The piece of barely human garbage dressed in a plastic trash bag was cut off from his desperate attempts to save himself by the TV turning on completely on its own. 

Naoto checked her watch and coldly confirmed, “It’s midnight. Looks like it’s time for the Midnight Channel.” 

Sure enough, the Midnight Channel buzzed on seconds after Naoto’s sombre announcement. The visage of Taro Namatame popped into view, the heavenly landscape where he had been defeated and brought to “justice” last month. He seemed to be in a much better condition than the quivering mess beneath the team, and he was dressed in the delivery uniform he had been wearing at the time. 

The emaciated version of Namatame seemed to lose all focus, no longer paying attention to the band of teenagers threatening his life and instead choosing to stare longingly at the mirror image of himself inside the TV. 

Kanji too seemed quite surprised. “What? What’s he doing there?! We beat the shit out of his shadow already, why’s it here?!” 

Naoto folded her arms and contemplated something. Yu had a few ideas what, and what she told Kanji was not one of them: “We may have defeated it and rescued his hostage, but Namatame has so far failed to accept it. That would be why it still exists.” 

Then, the shadow of Nanako’s killer began to speak. As soon as he opened his disgusting killing mouth, Yu felt the urge to impale him with his sword all over again; only the knowledge that it would be pointless due to his TV shield stopped him. “My crusade has failed, all thanks to those damned brats! They killed her, not me! I failed, and now… no, it’s not my fault. The law can’t touch me anyway…”  
Yukiko had gotten up to join the rest of the team as waves of shock and anger ran through them at what Namatame was really thinking. Yu could scarcely understand why everyone was so surprised; it was extraordinarily obvious. “Oh, you want to kill me so, so badly, don’t you?! Do it, then! I will go down in history as a hero, slaughtered to stop his righteous mission of saving people from the demons of the Midnight Channel!” 

Then, the TV blinked out, returning to darkness, and Namatame was left on the floor, clutching his head in some sort of pretend agony and mumbling, “No… no, please… no, please stop.”  
Yukiko spoke, in a hushed voice barely above the level of a whisper, for the first time since Yu had entered the room. “Mission? What does he mean, mission? Does he think going around killing people is the right thing to do?” Yu turned his head to see that Yukiko’s eyes and face were still wet with tears, and yet mysteriously, there was no anger displayed there. Sadness, yes, but no anger. She refused to make eye contact with Namatame, no, even look at him, as she leaned into Chie, who reassuringly wrapped an arm around her. 

Yosuke picked the killer up by the scruff without resistance, as if he were a stray cat, and listened to his panicked whimpering. Then, he replied with no cheer, not a single whiff of forgiveness, “Namatame wants us to stop. What do you think we should do?” 

Yu locked eyes with Naoto, who it seemed was clearly coming to the same idea as him. It was simply a matter of who would state the obvious first. They did have a way to end this madman’s “mission” permanently without getting caught. 

Yu stated, attempting to fill his voice with the entirety of his disgust and his contempt, “That TV is awfully convenient for him to have in his room. And such a large one, too. He could escape any time he wants, really.” 

Rise, still vaguely leaning onto Yu, jolted away as she prematurely realized the dark fate her boyfriend was alluding to, while Naoto illuminated it for everyone else. “Yes, that is correct. But he may find it to be a one-way trip if he can’t accept his shadow.” 

That more overt reference was enough to send the rest of the Investigation Team into a spiral. Yosuke and Chie were once again loudly arguing, to the point where Yu was very grateful the police had not yet returned from accompanying his uncle to his room. 

Rise pulled down on Yu’s shirt collar and glared directly into his eyes. She told him, “No. I won’t let you become a killer for him. I don’t care if you’re not doing it directly, I don’t.” Then, she turned to the rest of the group and repeated herself. “That goes for you guys, too.”

“So you’re just going to let him get away with it? Saki-senpai… I swear, I won’t let her killer go. And Nanako-chan, too… he’s gonna keep doing this if we let him get away with it now.”  
“Are you crazy, Yosuke?! No, we’re not gonna kill him!” Chie launched herself forward and physically dragged Yosuke away from Namatame, completely catching him off-guard. Plus, Yu thought, it is Chie. The poor boy never had a chance. The two of them ended up toppling over, only to scramble back to a standing position. Now, however, the two of them stood in opposite places, Chie blocking Yosuke from Namatame. 

Yosuke made a determined but ultimately futile effort to push through his friend, but he did not quit. He was quickly losing energy, however. His valiant cries turned into tired mutterings within a few minutes. 

Kanji intervened, putting another barrier in between Yosuke and the object of his justified revenge. “Listen, bud. I don’t want to let him live either, but I just… he’s not worth it. With any luck, he’ll spend the rest of his life locked up in a mental institution.” 

Yu attempted to sidestep the informal barricade made by Kanji and Chie, but Rise firmly laid a dainty hand on his chest, sending a clear message; he was to go no further. All Naoto and Yukiko had decided to do was watch, each’s eyes flickering towards a different side of the argument. 

No more violence was to be had, something Yu internally admitted he was grateful for, at least among the team, as a doctor pushed his way into the room, hesitantly followed by a sputtering Adachi. What he was trying to say was unknown and likely irrelevant. His eyes widened in surprise when he spotted the Investigation Team there, confronting the prime suspect. 

“Hey guys, you’re not supposed to be in here!” I don’t know what you expected when you gave us the location, Adachi. 

Thankfully, Naoto responded quickly. “My apologies, sir. I was attempting to talk to the suspect, see if I could gain any useful leads. We did gain some insight into his motives for his crimes.” While the doctor rushed to Namatame, Adachi eyed Naoto with skepticism. Finally, he said, “You really weren’t supposed to do that, you know. How’d you even get in here, anyway?” 

Chie, surprisingly enough, spoke up before Naoto could. She donned her best concerned expression and reported, “Dojima-san came here, but he had some sort of emergency, so the guard took him back to his room.” Wow, Yu thought, better than I could have done. Probably Naoto, too. 

Adachi combed over the seven teenagers with his gaze suspiciously before Yu interrupted his tranquillity, “It seems like you really should have had more than one guard around the room of the prime suspect in this case. We should not have gotten in so easily.” He wasn’t quite sure whether he wanted Adachi to catch his meaning, but desperate times called for desperate measures. As much as what he was doing was right, it was also unfortunately illegal.  
“Alright,” Adachi put up his hands in surrender, also carefully eyeing Yu’s bare blade. Clearly, Yu’s plan had worked. He decided it was a good idea to sheathe his sword at that time. “Just don’t say anything about this and neither will I. Deal?” 

Yu smirked as Yosuke nodded in agreement. “Alright, thanks.” Then, the Investigation Team started to leave as Adachi turned to the doctor and Namatame, who had been laid out on the bed and was having his wounds inspected. Yu didn’t know this was a war hospital, with the general atmosphere. 

On her way out, Naoto spun around, coat flaps extending, and addressed Adachi, “Do you want me to hand over the notes I’ve taken? They could be useful in your upcoming investigation.” Yu could not fail to notice the hidden presumption inside Naoto’s question. Adachi did too, and it seemed like some of the others may have caught on to what she was saying.

Adachi stared ahead at them briefly, before turning around and waving his hand. “No, don’t bother.” The detective took that as a signal that he was no longer responding. 

Once the Investigation Team left, Yosuke grumbled, “Looks like we didn’t get to kill that bastard, now did we? Adachi took the decision out of our hands.” 

Yukiko whispered, “Good thing, too. It wasn’t our decision to make.” 

Yosuke was very much not okay with this, for obvious reasons, and Yu found himself rather annoyed as well. There would be other times for his vengeance, right? He couldn’t be sure. But at the moment, he had no option for avenging his little sister. It was now time to deliver the unfortunate news to her father. 

The Investigation Team strolled down a floor and passed several wings, not yet at the room of Ryotaro Dojima. He stepped away and told his friends, “I’m going to see Dojima-san. He hasn’t been told the news yet, as far as I know. I’ll see you all tomorrow at… at school.” That’s right, I have to go to school. Yu and everyone else had to go to school tomorrow, the day after Nanako’s death, pretend like nothing was happening. The events of last month had only just entered the news, and the name of the victim hadn’t even been released yet, so nobody would even know. Yu could just tell them, he supposed, if he really wanted to. How many students there not part of the Investigation Team would he want to tell? Too many and it would simply turn into a pity party for him. Just what he needed; everyone constantly rubbing his loss in his face in an attempt to be comforting. 

The door to Dojima’s room was ajar; when Yu entered, a doctor sat in a chair, typing incessantly on a computer, back turned to the door. He was using a particularly loud keyboard, and the noises he was making were already starting to become grating. Yu’s uncle was seated upright in his bed, grunting audibly and leaning back into his pillow. He winced in pain, but his eyes perked up when he saw Yu.  
Yu walked over to his uncle and deftly placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked down, his misty grey eyes storming over. This would be a difficult piece of news to deliver. Dojima reached out weakly and positioned Yu’s chin so he could stare into his eyes. His vaguely hopeful expression melted into one of sadness. His posture started to fade as he slumped back into his chair.  
“Uncle… Nanako didn’t make it. I checked on Namatame, and he’s not doing too great either, so I guess that’s some solace.” Yu looked around absentmindedly, simultaneously attempting to find a chair and avoid his uncle’s gaze. He wanted to see as little of the defeat of the man he respected as possible. 

When Yu found a chair, Dojima was no more composed. The doctor that was supposed to be supervising him had finally turned around and was holding his hand, which had gone completely pale. It looked as if all the energy, all the life had left Dojima’s body. He was conscious, there was no mistake there, and his vitals looked normal from the very, very limited knowledge of medical scanners Yu possessed, but otherwise, he was white as a ghost. 

Dojima’s head was slumped against his sheets, and the doctor watching over him stared concernedly at him. Yu sat in the chair he had found next to the bed and assured the doctor, “It’s all right. I can handle this right now. You can just take care of his physical health.” He did make an attempt at softening his tone, but he was unsure how much that worked. Regardless, the doctor moved his chair away and began fiddling around in his desk drawer for something or other. Medicine perhaps. 

Yu put an arm around his uncle while he mumbled under his breath. Dojima finally raised his head and stared into Yu’s eyes. His eyes were welling up with tears, the first time Yu had ever seen him like this. He told Yu, “Nanako… she’s all I have. First her mother, and now her. Looks like I have two investigations to conduct now. And for what? Now all I have is my job.”  
Yu recognized where his uncle was coming from, but he was wrong. He didn’t have everything taken from him. “Dojima-san, you have me. I’m still here for you. And Adachi, if he counts.” 

This seemed to hearten Dojima slightly, as he let out a gruff chuckle when tears began to run down his cheeks. “No, Adachi doesn’t count. He’s a work friend. God damn, I need to go into retirement soon.” Oh. Wait, hang on. The implications of Dojima’s statement started to set in. But, he supposed, it was true that Adachi didn’t count as a friend. But going into retirement was likely the absolute worst thing Dojima could do. 

Then, Dojima coughed into his arm. When he removed his arm from his face, spots of blood lined the hairs and skin of it. He choked and coughed, patting his stomach, then settled into a still status. At the sound of hacking coming from his patient, the doctor whirled around, medicine at the ready. I feel like you had that possibility planned out beforehand. He wielded a needle filled with some mysterious purple liquid, likely a medicinal one. “Hold on,” Dojima put up his hand in an attempt to stop the doctor. “I’ll be fine; just hold on.”  
One large sequence of coughing and a significant amount of fluid later, a slight amount of colour came back into his body. He rested onto the back of his bed, his body losing its tension from his coughing fit. But Yu wasn’t done talking to his uncle and adoptive father. “Dojima-san, you still have me.”

Yet another humourless chuckle emerged from Dojiima, who responded, “You might be around right now, but you’re going back to Tokyo in March. Then I’ll be completely alone.” Ah, so that’s the problem. It did make sense; he was only staying in Inaba for five more months. He really should have thought of that. However, that could change. He was nearly the age of majority, and he had little desire to stay with his parents. It wasn’t like they were going to stay in one place for very long. He barely knew their names. 

Thus, he was possibly able to reassure his ailing uncle, who looked altogether too much like a sandbag. “That might not be the case anymore. I believe I can persuade my parents to let me stay here.” Yu sneered and looked away. “I highly doubt they’ll care anyway. Provided they even come back to Tokyo five months from now; they may simply have “work things” to do.” 

Dojima appeared to have little idea how to react. He sat up, his body regaining some of its prior form. “That would be great for me, Yu. I’m not sure how your parents would feel about that, though. And all the paperwork required if you want to make it permanent…” He was hesitant about the idea. Understandable. And that was presuming they succeeded in keeping everything quiet; Yu had no doubt the news would utterly mangle the story if they got hold of all the details. Secrecy would be key. 

Yu knew that the process could very well be painful and possibly futile, but he also knew he had to try, for Dojima’s sake. “Trust me; they won’t care. I’m not worth their precious time to try and get back. You’ve been more of a father to me than they ever have.” 

Dojima was once again brought to tears, this time with a slight smile on his face. “That’s really nice to hear from you. I know I haven’t been a great parent to you and Nanako in particular… and now I’ll never get to apologize or make things right…” He drifted off, once again, into sadness, the tears flowing down his face once again. 

The fact that Dojima was still the best father Yu had known recently was the entire point he was trying to make; however, it seemed as if he had just sent his father further into a state of depression. Yu sighed and stood up. He reached out and firmly grabbed Dojima’s shoulder. He told him, “You don’t need to apologize. Once you get out of here, you need to come home earlier. Spend some time around the house, cook some food, clean. Alright?” 

Dojima sighed and nodded. He tried to speak, but nothing came out of his mouth. Perhaps he was choked up by tears, or perhaps he required the attention of the doctor who sat behind them being generally useless. That could change at any time, of course. 

Adachi burst into the room, interrupting one of Yu’s private moments once again. He evidently failed to notice Yu, and was reading off of a notepad. “So, I did some digging with Shirogane and the doctors; it seems as if Namatame has attempted self-harm multiple times upon entering the hospital, as well as showing general signs of mental instability. We may not be able to convict him, but pushing for him to be institutionalized will be a basically guaranteed success.” Then, he looked up from his notes and spotted Yu standing absentmindedly beside him. “Oh, hey Yu. Wait, you should probably get out. Police business, you know.” 

Yu spoke over top of Dojima’s weak protests and said, “Alright. I actually need to get home. I have some… restructuring to do.” He sighed and hung his head in resignation before leaning over Dojima for a hug and leaving the room. It would take some getting used to, living in a two-person household rather than a three-person one.


End file.
